Another Summer, More Procrastination.

I guess I better get cracking... That's how I ended the last entry. As you might have been able to discern from this entry's title I haven't exactly made much progress. I haven't started anything from the backlog. None of the many RPGs waiting to be played. All this time in the summer doldrums and nothing to say for it except I went through Super Mario World and The Legend of Zelda III: A Link to the Past on the Virtual Console. Productive? No. Fun? Yes. I went through the arcade version of Golden Axe on Xbox Live Arcade. I'm even making matters worse for myself. I added Shining in the Darkness to my Wii Channels and Super Metroid hits on Monday. I'll buy that one also. SEGA announced today that the classic Landstalker will be hitting the VC soon. I'll have to get that one. Same thing with Hudson and their Neutopia which is supposed to hit the VC in August.

I've been playing Phantasy Star Universe of course. Going on over nine-hundred hours on that one. We're currently hunting the rare creature known as the Jaggo Acte so Magus and Neo can get the ax drop and I can get the fireworks room decoration. Collectively we've fought fifteen of the little buggers and have one ax to show for it. VGL PSU players 1, Jaggo Acte 14...

Nintendo has taken a few steps towards 2005 with their Wii based Metroid Prime 3: Corruption promotion. I appreciate Nintendo getting online, but boy is it ever slow and painful. With the Wii System Update 3.0U you now have a digital clock in the middle of the main Wii channel menu and the Wii reset Internet browser glitch has been fixed. As well as the post update Internet setting reset glitch for Wii LAN Adapter users. It's good to see them actually fixing things. But the big thing about this update is you can now go into the Wii Ware section of the Wii Shop Channel and download a Metroid Prime 3 preview channel. Yes, it shows up as a channel in the Wii Channel Menu. It's a not so cleverly disguised front end hiding a browser that connects to a website where you're able to stream crappy low resolution videos showing off different aspects of Metroid Prime 3. It's better than nothing, isn't it? It does show how cool Metroid Prime 3 seems to be. But it does make me wonder just how serious Nintendo is regarding online still. Is this the best we'll get? Is the Wii's internal memory just too small to do anything more than this? Will the gap between the Wii and the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 be as massive as I suspect it will be in three years? Will the masses Nintendo is aiming for and apparently hitting even care?